Math and English
by quietandsneaky
Summary: Abby/Kelsey Winchester. Sequel to Numbers and Letters. Second grader Abby's struggles in school with her reading and spelling have reached an all time high. She's started to become discouraged, and Sam and Jess aren't quite sure what to do, until her teacher steps in with an idea.


**Disclaimer: The characters of Supernatural do not belong to me. The original characters of Abigail and Kelsey Winchester do. **

**A/N: So this story turned out about twice as long as I originally planned it. I got to thinking about why Abby would be so good at math but struggle so hard with learning her alphabet and learning how to read. I did some research and this came out :). Enjoy!**

Abby climbed off the school bus, thinking hard about walking in the other direction and not going home. The note she had in her backpack felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. The failed quiz she had felt like it weighed a hundred more. Abby barely heard her sister greet her when she got off the bus.

"Hey."

"Hey, Kessy."

"Are you okay? Are you crying?"

"No." Abby lied, quickly wiping the tears away from her face.

"Yes, you are. What's wrong?"

Abby sighed and knelt down, pulling the note and the quiz out of her backpack and handing it to Kelsey.

"Oh." Kelsey said sympathetically. "You failed your spelling quiz again?"

"Yeah." Abby said. "And my teacher gave me a note to give to Mommy and Daddy."

"Do you know what it says?"

"No. She just told me to give it to 'em." Abby said. "I'm scared, Kessy."

"It'll be okay. You were only a couple points away from passing."

"But Daddy's gonna be really mad." Abby said.

"He won't be mad." Kelsey said. "He knows you studied. I promise he won't be mad."

"Yeah, he'll be disappointed. That's even worse." Abby said. "I don't wanna go home."

"I'll stay with you the whole time, okay? But we gotta go home."

Abby nodded. "Okay."

"Do you have any homework?"

"Just math."

"There you go. That's pretty easy for you, huh? You're like a genius with numbers."

Abby smiled at her sister's compliment. "Thanks."

"Come on, you can help me with my homework."

"But you're in fourth grade. I'm only in the second." Abby said.

"You can figure it out. Come on."

Abby took Kelsey's hand, who walked her the two and a half blocks home and tried to cheer her up the whole way. Kelsey felt sorry for Abby. Abby tried really hard in school. She was good in math, able to figure out almost any problem she was given right away. She was even in the third grade math gifted program. But she had a very hard time reading. It had taken Abby almost to the end of her kindergarten year to even be able to say her alphabet. She hadn't been able to write normally until almost the end of her first grade year, and even that now required a lot of effort. When the two girls walked into the house, Abby was relieved to see that her father wasn't home yet.

"Hey, girls!"

"Hi, Mom." Kelsey called to her mother in the kitchen as she took off her shoes.

Jess smiled. Kelsey had just started calling her Mom rather than Mommy, and while it made her a little sad, she chose to look at it as a good sign. Kelsey was growing up, and was a fantastic kid. Jess saw it as evidence that she was doing a good job. Just as she started to wonder where Abby was and why she hadn't answered, Jess felt a pair of skinny arms wrap themselves around her waist at the stove.

"Hey, you. How was school?"

"Okay." Abby lied.

"Uh oh." Jess, who'd been stirring a pot of spaghetti sauce for dinner, wiped her hands with a dish rag and knelt down. "That feels like a sad hug. What's wrong?"

Abby had brought her quiz into the kitchen with her, along with the note from her teacher. She handed them both to Jess, who knew right away what had happened. Jess made a conscious effort not to frown. Abby gave her best effort most of the time, but easily got discouraged with her schoolwork, and her poor grades didn't help. A quick glance at the note confirmed one of Jess's suspicions about why. She knew why Abby was upset. She was worried about Sam finding out she'd failed another quiz. Making up her mind what to do, Jess folded the note and put it down on the kitchen table.

"I'm sorry, Mommy."

"Don't be." Jess said. "Come here."

Jess turned the pot on the stove down to simmer, and pulled out a kitchen chair. Abby quickly climbed into her mom's lap, and Jess waited a minute or two before speaking.

"You're not in trouble. Is that why you were looking so worried when you handed me that note?"

Abby nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, you're not in trouble." Jess said again. "Your teacher just wants me and Daddy to come to your school to talk tomorrow."

"If I'm not in trouble, why's she want to see you and Daddy?"

"Because she thinks you may need to see someone about why you're having so much trouble with your reading and writing." Jess explained.

"What do you mean?" Abby asked, confused. "Is something wrong with me?"

"No. You are perfect just the way you are." Jess said. "But your teacher says that you're really having a hard time. That you're having trouble remembering things about a story you've just read. Is that true?"

"Yeah. I try to remember, but I can't always."

"She also said she's worried that you're starting to think of yourself as stupid. That you asked to go to the bathroom after she handed out your quiz today and she heard you call yourself that when you were sharpening your pencil."

Abby blushed and looked down. She wasn't supposed to call herself stupid, but it was hard not to feel that way when she was the only one in her class that couldn't read a simple story without needing help.

"Abby, is that true?"

"Yes." Abby said quietly.

Jess sighed. "Honey, I wish I knew how to show you how smart you really are."

"I don't feel that way, though." Abby said. "And now Daddy's gonna be mad when he sees that."

"Hey. What does your Daddy always say about school?"

"Do your best."

"Do your best and…?"

"Do your best and I'll always be proud of you." Abby said.

"That's right. And you did your best here, didn't you?"

"I studied really hard."

"I know. I saw you. I helped you with it, so I know you tried hard. And I'm very proud of you for it. Just like Daddy will be."

"You sure?" Abby asked skeptically, eyeing the big red 55-F on her quiz that was staring back at her.

"I promise." Jess said, kissing her cheek. "Do you have any homework?"

"Nope."

"Why don't you go put your backpack in your room and come back and help me with dinner?"

"Okay. I will." Abby said.

"Abby, wait. Can you help me with my math homework?" Kelsey asked. "It's addition and it's really hard."

"Sure." Abby said with a grin. "Is that okay, Mommy?"

"That is just perfect. You go put your stuff in your room and Kelsey'll be there in a minute." When Abby was out of earshot, Jess beckoned Kelsey over and whispered. "Do you really need help?"

Kelsey shook her head. "No. I was just trying to make her feel better."

Jess smiled. "You're a good sister. Listen, when your Dad gets home, I'm gonna go out and meet him and talk to him for a minute. Keep your sister distracted for me."

"He won't be mad with her, will he?"

"No. He won't."

The two girls headed off to Kelsey's room, where Jess heard them start to giggle over something. Jess had been suspecting for a few weeks now that there was something wrong with Abby. There was some reason she was struggling so hard with her reading. It broke Jess's heart to watch Abby sit on the couch with a book and try to read it, only to get discouraged when sit took her so long to finish. Kelsey had read to Abby before Abby started school, and Abby, being the typical little sister that worshipped everything her big sister did, wanted to be just as good at reading at Kelsey was. When she wasn't, she thought that she somehow wasn't as smart as Kelsey was. It seemed that despite telling her over and over again that she was smart just like Kelsey, Abby was caught in a vicious circle that Jess had no idea how to help her get out of.

Jess heard Sam's car stop in the driveway and she immediately turned off the stove. She grabbed the note and the quiz off the table and went outside before Sam had even gotten out of the car. Sam smiled at her from the passenger seat.

"Hey, you."

"Hey." Jess said. "How was work?"

"Kinda boring, actually. How were things here?"

"That's why I came out to talk to you."

"Uh oh. I don't like the sound of that."

Jess walked from their small front porch to Sam's car and handed him the note and the quiz. "Here."

Sam took the quiz and frowned, and Jess felt grateful she'd thought to meet him outside. "Again?"

"Yes. Again."

"What's this?" Sam read over the note and looked surprised. "Her teacher wants to test her for learning disabilities?"

"Yeah. What do you think?"

"I don't know. I guess I never really thought about it."

"Sam, you know as well as I do that she tries her hardest in school. Something is making it hard for her, and I want to know what it is." Jess said. "There can't be any harm in going to see what the teacher has to say."

"Yeah. You're right."

"Sam, listen. Don't say anything to her about this, okay? She's really upset right now."

"I won't."

"Sam, I mean it." Jess said. "We don't say anything else to her until after we meet with her teacher tomorrow."

"I won't. I promise."

Sam knew why Jess was trying to make sure he wouldn't say anything. Abby's difficulty reading had been a source of frustration for him at first. Abby would avoid anything having to do with reading, and Sam had thought she was just being lazy. He would push Abby to try and practice, Abby would push back and refuse, and they'd end up in an argument. But after she had gotten a basic grasp of her alphabet in kindergarten and was still struggling with her reading, he'd come to realize that Abby would always struggle with it. Sam knew it made Abby frustrated, and he knew he tended to make it worse, so he'd defaulted to letting Jess help Abby with her reading and language arts homework.

"Okay. Come on. I'll have dinner ready soon."

Sam walked inside with Jess, took his shoes off at the door, and found the two girls in Kelsey's room. "Hey, girls."

"Daddy!" Kelsey jumped up from her desk and ran over to her father.

"Hey, kiddo. How was school?"

"Good."

"Yeah?" Still hugging Kelsey, Sam could've kicked himself when he saw Abby looking away from him. "Hey, sweetie."

"Hi, Daddy."

"How are you?"

"'m okay." Abby said quietly.

"Kelsey, lemme go, baby. Let me go change."

"Can we play checkers tonight? Please?" Kelsey asked.

"Sure. If you help your mom pick up after dinner."

"Daddy?" Abby had decided to be honest with Sam about school that day, not knowing Jess had already told him. "I got something to tell you."

"Is it about your test today?"

"How'd you know?" Abby asked.

"Daddies know everything." Sam said, and had to fight back a laugh when Kelsey rolled her eyes and Abby glared at him. "Mommy told me."

"You're not mad?"

Sam grabbed Kelsey's desk chair and turned it to face Abby. He took her hands and smiled at her, and Sam could feel the tension leaving her. "I'm going with Mommy tomorrow to talk to your teacher. We'll figure it out. Don't worry about it. Okay?"

Abby smiled. "Okay."

"Can I have a hug, smart girl?"

"Can it be me and mommy against you and Kelsey when we play checkers tonight?"

"You bet."

Sam shared a hug with Abby, and the night went smoothly otherwise. They decided on a chess tournament rather than playing two on two. Sam started out against Kelsey. Sam won, so he faced Jess. Jess won that game, so Jess faced Abby. Abby was declared the winner of the Winchester family checkers tournament, and both girls were put to bed.

The next day, Abby was gathering her things into her backpack after the bell. She'd completely forgotten her parents were coming to school. Just as she zipped up her bag, she looked at the door and smiled at her parents.

"Mommy! Daddy!"

"Hey." Jess said.

"Hi, baby." Sam greeted her.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Honey, we're here to talk to your teacher, remember?" Sam reminded her.

"Oh. Yeah." Abby said. "I forgot."

"Mr. and Mrs. Winchester?" Abby's teacher, Mrs. Snow, spoke from the front of the room. "I'll be right with you."

"Where's Kessy?"

"We had uncle Dean pick her up. We're gonna spend tonight with you. How's that sound?" Jess asked.

"Cool!"

"Abby?" Mrs. Snow had come back. "If it's alright with your parents, why don't you go out to the playground?"

"Is it okay?" Abby asked.

"You'll be able to see her out the window right here the entire time." Mrs. Snow assured Sam and Jess.

"It's okay, sweetheart. Go play." Jess said. "We'll come get you when we're done."

Sam and Jess took a seat next to each other, while Mrs. Snow pulled out her desk chair and came over to join them. "Thank you both for coming."

"Thank you for having us. We're both a little anxious to find out what's going on with Abby?"

"Before we talk about that, I want you both to know something. Abby is a wonderful child. She's bright, funny, very polite. I wish I had twenty more kids like her."

"Thank you." Sam said sincerely. "She seems to love you."

"That's good to hear. But let's get down to why we're here. Abby's reading is concerning to me."

"It is to us too." Jess said. "She tries so hard at home but it seems she's just not making any progress."

"She tries hard in class too. But unfortunately, kids can be cruel, and I think she may be bullied about her reading when I'm not looking."

"Isn't she with you all day?"

"All day except for recess and lunch time." Mrs. Snow said. "There's a recess monitor that watches them outside so I can take a break."

"I see."

"I assure you, I don't' tolerate any bullying inside my classroom. The second I hear of it or see it that student is sent straight to the principal. But there's days Abby asks me if she can eat lunch in the classroom with me. She won't say why, she just says she doesn't' want me to be lonely."

"What do you think is going on?" Jess asked.

"I have to say that this is only a hunch. But have you considered having Abby tested for dyslexia?"

"What makes you think that might be the problem?"

"Look at Abby's quiz." Mrs. Snow said. "Beside the words she got wrong, I wrote the correct answers. Her wrong answers are very similar to the correct ones. For example, one of our words this week was 'saw' and Abby wrote 'was'. I noticed she also mixed up letters. Like 'p' and 'q', 'd' and 'b', 'o' and 'u'."

"I didn't notice that." Sam said guiltily.

"Don't feel bad. A lot of parents don't." Mrs. Snow assured him. "Abby tests very well verbally. She can tell me what most words mean. But when she sits down and tries to copy that information on paper…"

"That's where the trouble is." Jess finished. "I see what you're saying, I really do. But wouldn't dyslexia mean she'd have trouble with numbers too?"

"Usually, but not necessarily." Mrs. Snow said. "Most dyslexic children excel in one area or more. For Abby, it looks like that's math and science. It may be her brain's way of trying to compensate for her reading."

"How do we have her tested? Should we take her to her doctor?"

"I would take her to her eye doctor first. I don't think she's having any vision problems, but it's best to rule that out just to be sure." Mrs. Snow said. "Can you do that today?"

"If we need to. Why so fast?" Sam asked.

"My husband is a child psychiatrist. He specializes in testing children for learning problems. If you can get Abby checked out today, you can bring her back here Saturday and have her tested."

"We'll do that." Jess said. "She just had a checkup a week ago."

"Were there any problems?"

"Doctor said she was perfectly healthy."

"That's good. Do you have any paperwork saying that?" Mrs. Snow asked. "If you do, bring that with you."

"I can get it."

"And I'll put together some of Abby's recent schoolwork. This will help Neal get a sense of where she is."

After talking with Mrs. Snow a little more, suddenly Jess felt better. She didn't feel like an overprotective mom worrying over her kid for no reason. There _was _a reason that Abby was struggling so hard with her reading and spelling in school, and there was a way to really help her with it. Jess felt hopeful. She wouldn't be lying to Abby that night when she told her things would be okay.

Sam, on the other hand, was feeling guilty. Did his pushing Abby into practicing her reading make her difficulties worse? Was it the reason she came down on herself so often? Was he the reason he would think he saw tears on her cheeks sometimes when he went to check on her at night?

"Do you guys have any more question?" Mrs. Snow asked. "I'll answer to the best of my ability, and if I can't answer, you can bring it up with Neal on Saturday."

"I think we're okay for now. Sam?"

"I'm good."

"Alright. Well, thank you both for coming in. I'll see you Saturday."

"Mrs. Snow? We really wanted to spend some time with Abby tonight. I think we'll do that at home, then I'll take her to the eye doctor tomorrow."

"I completely understand. Do that. It'll be good for her to have a little time away from the school setting. We can start fresh on Monday."

"Sam? You ready?"

"Yeah."

A happy Abby reveled in her parents' attention. Sam and Jess took her for ice cream, then got home and decided on a simple dinner of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. As Jess poured Abby's milk, Abby finally couldn't stand the question anymore.

"What did Mrs. Snow say?"

Sam and Jess shared a look with each other, and Jess took the lead. "Well, honey, Mrs. Snow thinks that you might need some extra help in school."

"How come? She already helps me more than everybody else."

"Well, this is what's gonna happen now. Tomorrow, while Kelsey's at school, you're going to the eye doctor. We're gonna make sure that the reason you're having trouble reading isn't something wrong with your eyes."

"But I can see."

"I know you can. But sometimes people who can't see very well, they get used to it and maybe don't realize how bad their eyesight is. Does that make sense?"

"I guess. So it might be my eyes."

"Maybe. I don't think so, but we're going to the eye doctor to make sure."

"What if it's not my eyes?"

"Well, after your eye doctor visit tomorrow, Daddy and I are going to take you to school on Saturday."

Abby's face scrunched like she was eating a lemon whole. "I have to go to school on Saturday?"

Jess laughed. "Yeah. It stinks, I know. But how about we make up for it after you go to the doctor tomorrow?"

"How?"

"How about I'll leave work early and you, me, and Mommy can go to the park until it's time to pick up Kelsey from school?" Sam suggested.

"Really?" Abby asked. "Cool!"

"What we're gonna do Saturday is meet with Mrs. Snow's husband. He's a special kind of doctor that helps kids having a hard time with reading."

"What's he gonna do?"

"He's going to give you some tests. I don't know exactly what kind of tests they'll be, but it'll take a while."

"I don't do so good with tests." Abby said nervously.

"This isn't a normal test. You're not being graded on it. What we're trying to find out is how much help you need. You do need to do your best on it, but I don't want you to worry about whether me and Daddy are gonna be mad if you don't do well. Got it?"

"You promise you won't be upset or mad or anything?" Abby asked.

Sam noted with a pang to his heart that Abby wasn't looking at her mother, but at him. "I swear, I won't be mad. No matter what. Just do your best, and we'll figure out how to help you from there."

"'Kay, Daddy."

"Now, Daddy and I are gonna wait at school with you, but we won't be in the room with you while you're taking your tests. They're gonna give you some breaks, and we'll see you then. Can you be a brave girl for us?"

"I'll be brave, Mommy." Abby said. "So after all this, I'll be able to read like everybody else?"

Jess smiled. "No. It'll still take some time for you to learn how to read well. But if you work at it, it'll get easier for you over time."

Abby's grin grew even bigger. "I'll be able to read."

Sam nodded. "Yep. You'll be reading all by yourself. How's that sound?"

"Will you read to me tonight?"

"You bet. Eat your dinner first, kiddo."

Abby went to her testing, and came out with one of the biggest smiles Sam had ever seen. The results came back and confirmed that Abby was indeed dyslexic. After another discussion with her parents and Mrs. Snow about what the diagnosis meant, where Sam surprised Jess by explaining to Abby that 'your brain isn't different. It's special. We just have to figure out how to make it work', a plan was worked out and put in place at Abby's school. She stayed in class with her classmates during math and science, but when the time came for reading, Abby left and went next door with a special tutor provided by the school. Other than some minor bullying, which Abby responded to with 'I'm special and I get to study all by myself', things started going much smoother.

Sam knew they'd done the right thing exactly a month later. He'd gotten off work a little bit early and was home when Abby and Kelsey got off the school bus. It was normally Kelsey who ran into him, but this time it was Abby who nearly mowed him down.

"Whoa, whoa, where's the fire?"

"Daddy, look!" Abby was waving a note in Sam's face. "Look what I did at school today!"

"What is it?" There were two pieces of paper in Abby's hand. One was a spelling quiz, like the ones she'd failed a few weeks earlier. "You made a B?"

"Yeah. I did. But look at this!"

The second paper was a note from Mrs. Snow. _Abby asked me to write you a note. During recess, she wanted to try her new reading skills on me. She sat at a desk and read an entire book to me, all by herself. She made a few tiny mistakes, but went back over the unfamiliar words and tried all over again. I'm very proud of her. She's making big strides in a short amount of time. She'll be an expert reader in no time. _

Sam was stunned. "You read an entire book by yourself?"

Abby nodded. "Yeah! Mrs. Snow gave it to me. Can I read it to you? Please, please, please?" Abby stopped hopping up and down when she noticed Sam didn't look happy. "Daddy, you okay? You're crying."

"I'm fine, baby. I'm just so proud of you."

"Where's Mommy? I want to show…"

"I'm home!"

"Sounds like she's at the front door. She went to return those library books she got last week."

"Mommy! Mommy! Look!"

As Sam talked with Kelsey, the burst of fatherly pride that came from Abby's accomplishment that day nearly strangled him. For the first time ever, Abby led reading time that night. It took twice as long as normal, and the girls were up far past their bedtime, but Sam didn't have the heart to tell her to go to bed. When he went to check on both girls before going to bed himself, Sam found a rare sight.

Abby had fallen asleep smiling.


End file.
